Hi there and welcome. I completed my Asuna cosplay this year and wore it at Katsucon 19. I have yet to finish Lambent Light for her cause it's made out of wood and my friend made it for me, for free at least.

I'm sorta tempted to make Sinon, but I'm not sure. Most likely, I wanna make this cosplay:

Your Asuna is so pretty. So glad to find another fan who knows the novel characters. Sinon has been mega work for me (especially hecate as I have no experience making guns) but it feels great to have everything come together.

Your Asuna is so pretty. So glad to find another fan who knows the novel characters. Sinon has been mega work for me (especially hecate as I have no experience making guns) but it feels great to have everything come together.

Oh wow, she's so cute.

Thanks.

I can't wait to see you cosplay as Sinon. I've heard about her from friends. I've been meaning to get around to reading the novel as soon as I can. But I have a lot of stuff to finish for cosplay and stuff before the end of the month.

Wrapping the handle is fine. If you look at some of the artwork...not sure if it's abec's or fan art...the handle is in a spiral wrap. Personally I'll be using a flat leather wrap stitched up both sides (I have to keep the handle in two pieces for this to work, since I have to sew it inside out, then roll it on).

Budget constraints are holding me back. I really, REALLY want to grab some Polyurethane resin ($85/gallon + $15 shipping...220 miles ish), but they don't take paypal (BillMeLater, lol), so unless I get a normal credit card (which I keep getting denied despite having a pretty good credit score) I'm pretty much held up til mid-march. I can work on Dark Repulser some (edges need finished, detail sculpting with Apoxie, the crossguard gems ARE going to be Polyester resin), but otherwise I'm at a full stop. Anything with a load of detail or semi-large volume I need PU resin (or epoxy, which means I'd need a mail scale) to avoid the shrinkage.

And we're not even talking paints yet. Thankfully, I have some good contacts in a local auto tool/paint supplier, so I can probably work out a deal with them.

*sigh*

I wish I made more than $17k/year (that's slightly above average around here, by the way)...

Well, I'm not exactly sure on his handle....I think it's just a black pipe tbh lol
But I don't wanna paint the handle and hockey tape is comfy to hold so I'm gonna do that lolI was thinking of doing it the way you just said, but I don't wanna waste what little black vinyl I have left lol

Finally Sinon is complete. With all the procrastination I did on this costume it feels great to have her finished. Kinda tempted to make her ALO outfit as well at some point. As much as people can pick at and moan about the plot (especially in the anime, the novels do a better job/have less plot holes), you can't deny that the costumes that the in game avatars wear are great.

Finally Sinon is complete. With all the procrastination I did on this costume it feels great to have her finished. Kinda tempted to make her ALO outfit as well at some point. As much as people can pick at and moan about the plot (especially in the anime, the novels do a better job/have less plot holes), you can't deny that the costumes that the in game avatars wear are great.

Incoming WIP image spam! Remember, I'm VERY picky, so this is a chance to get some feedback before I start assembling these. I've spent about 2 weeks (total work time) on them so far, so what's another week to make corrections?

Probably the most frustrating part I've work on thus far. This is that X detail on the crossguard of Elucidator. I think this is the 5th or 6th iteration. I had one that worked before this but the effect was inverse, whereas this matches the original artwork better imo. Cut from 1/8" Sintra with a scrollsaw, patched with Apoxie Sculpt, sanded by hand. Will be making a mold of this, unless you guys say it's a little uneven...my Asuna seems to think so. For the record, scrollsaw blades tend to melt thru sintra if you idle too long.http://i.imgur.com/rBmlKac.jpg

One of Elucidator's crossguard plates. I obviously made two, mirror images of the pattern and trimmed to be very close in appearance to each other, but this is just one. Yes, the mold box is made of Legos. Sue me, they work and they're reusable. These were cut from 1/4" sintra , then edged with a bandsaw set to 45 degrees and a file. These match my sword cutout almost perfectly, so minor corrections to the blade are needed and I already have molds cured. The second pic is an example of why I now hate Polyester resin...http://i.imgur.com/rRKtVAg.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/w0g5aGm.jpg

Dark Repulser and Elucidator on the table...I admit I'm a little worried about DR's dimensions and stability. It's VERY lightweight (less than a pound) at this point and the crossguard is rather fragile compared to other builds I've seen--they are also thicker blades and dimensions though, where I was trying to match the appraisal Lisbeth does). One side of it is another plank of poplar glued on (and clamped overnight), which is semi-weak. Maybe once I get the hilt scuplt done, cast, and fitted, it'll be less prone to breakage.http://i.imgur.com/Lotw7ce.jpg

This is...well...obviously I can't do those two and not do this. Last I checked most rapiers (or rather, the fencing foils we now call rapiers) are extremely thin blades. Instead, going off abec's artwork, Lambent Light falls more into the saber category in terms of width. 2' wide at the guard with an elongated tip seemed to match the replicas that have been shown in Japan.

I should note--this is actually what I call a dimensions check. I've come into the habit of drawing patterns in a vector program, but I can't personally get a feel of how right or wrong my plans are until I make a rough cut of it. I usually relegate this to a piece of 1" thick pine (cheaper than 1/2" poplar), which is double the thickness I'm actually using. In LL's case though, I had a few scraps of 1/2" poplar from Elucidator blades that I've lost and the waste from DR, so I went and used them. The size is actually right.

Lambent Light is probably the simplest of the three in terms of blade design, but the hilt is it's own puzzle. I'll be vacuum-forming the guard over a puck of MDF I lathed out a couple weeks ago once I actually finish my vacformer. The other parts...some half-round styrene bars, sintra, and apoxie sculpt will do. I suck at sculpting (DR hilt...ung) but I have nothing but time to kill right now.

And while I'm on things I'm not sure of...DR's handle has two light green cutouts set in it. Part of me thinks they should be cast with resin, but that's over a curved surface. Another part of me thinks it's just a cut in the handle wrapping, and another says it's sewn in. Oh, the joys of going from 2D art to 3D objects.

And I'm sorry if that was too long. I tend to ramble. ごめんなさい。。。

EDIT: Insanity: That is very well done, it's nice to see someone stretch past the end of Fairy Dance. Maybe someone will do Kanno Yuuki...or Alice...or Euego? I've recently finished reading tap's translation of Vol. 11 (Alicization Turning) and...that's kind of a mind**** at the end who Kirito is talking to. Not quite a 'ohai Kayaba" kind, but I expect we'll see him again soon...

EDIT #2 (2013/03/09): Recast the hilt parts for elucidator tonight. They pulled very, very nicely and in a total cast time of 15 minutes (versus the 24 hours for polyester resin...plus no fumes). I don't have a pic yet, but...in the process I realized my mold masters weren't quite right. One is narrower on top than the other near the bottom part, the other is cut a little wrong, and neither one is quite as symmetrical as I'd like. It's not something you're likely to notice on the finished sword unless you stare at it for a few minutes, but I know it's there, and it's going to bug me, especially when I may take commissions on these at some point (kind of the whole reason I made molds instead of just using the masters). I guess it's not bad for my first non-foamcore-and-duct-tape project--it's a LOT of firsts from woodworking, to lathe use, to casting parts-- and not really knowing what the hell I'm doing.

Thank you Nemi and KOTS so, so much. KOTS Alicization has been such a confusing arc for me in places. I swear when I begun it I thought I was reading a different series.
I wore the costume this weekend and could not walk 5 metres without people taking photos, it was really strange cause I've never had something like that happen before.

Looks...almost a bit too much like the real thing. I kind of want one, lol.

EDIT: And Alicization /does/ feel a little different. I had no clue wtf was happening at first, til I reread parts of it. Then it started making sense. Japanese novels have a habit of doing this to me, I remember reading Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World/Sekai no owari to hādo-boirudo wandārando by Murakami Haruki back in college and having to read most of it twice to understand it. And I'm not what I'd call a bad reader at 166+ WPM.

Looks...almost a bit too much like the real thing. I kind of want one, lol.

EDIT: And Alicization /does/ feel a little different. I had no clue wtf was happening at first, til I reread parts of it. Then it started making sense. Japanese novels have a habit of doing this to me, I remember reading Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World/Sekai no owari to hādo-boirudo wandārando by Murakami Haruki back in college and having to read most of it twice to understand it. And I'm not what I'd call a bad reader at 166+ WPM.

Oh wow, that gun is beautiful, I can't even begin to imagine being being allowed to take it to a shoot location (I don't know how my own own 'gun' is going to fair when I take it to the sand dunes for a shoot) but holy wow. It's so, so nice. That everything, so much more than I could ever imagine doing.

Wore Klein all day Saturday at MomoCon. I've learned that wearing that chestplate armor for 12+ hrs is not a smart idea LOL (Had an early morning costume contest prejudgeing, and two photoshoots in the afternoon, then an early line-up call). Planning on making ALO version of Klein later this year lol.